Senator IAN CAMPBELL (9:32 AM) —I table the explanatory memoranda relating to the bills and move:

That these bills be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard .

Leave granted.

The speeches read as follows—

WILDLIFE PROTECTION (REGULATION OF EXPORTS AND IMPORTS) AMENDMENT BILL 1998

One of the greatest threats to the survival of many of the world's critically endangered species is the illegal hunting of these animals for use in a range of products, particularly traditional medicines.

Australia is one of the 144 countries which have ratified the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Under CITES, Parties are required to control international trade in species that are threatened with extinction, or that may become threatened with extinction if trade is not controlled.

Continued and uncontrolled use of endangered species in products such as traditional medicine threatens many species with extinction, and has been the subject of particular concern among the signatory nations to CITES, including countries that have practised in traditional medicine for thousands of years, such as China and Japan. CITES Parties have acted on this concern in recent years by agreeing unanimously to a number of resolutions which urge Parties to strengthen controls on products containing endangered species. The Government is committed to fulfilling its obligations under these resolutions.

Two species commonly used in traditional medicines, tiger and rhinoceros, survive in wild populations in numbers of less than five thousand and fourteen thousand respectively. In the case of tigers, this represents a decline rate of 95 per cent since the turn of the century. Out of the five species of rhinoceros in the world, four have numbers of less than three thousand in the wild, with the Javan rhinoceros surviving in numbers of less than one hundred.

The Wildlife Protection (Regulation Of Exports and Imports) Act 1982, which is administered by Environment Australia, implements Australia's international obligations under CITES. The act prohibits the import and export without a permit, and in some cases, the possession, of products that contain endangered species. However, in its current form, the act does not enable the Government successfully to prosecute offenders for the illegal import into Australia of many products that contain endangered species. This is because forensic science is not currently able to provide the required level of certainty. Thus, despite the prohibition, imported traditional medicines containing endangered species remain available in Australia, and there have been no prosecutions for their illegal import under the act.

The amendment will rectify this by extending the controls to products that are represented to contain material from endangered species, and will enable prosecutions on this basis.

Implementation costs for the amendment will be funded from within existing departmental budgets.

I would now like to explain the amendment in more detail.

For a prosecution to be successful under the current legislation, it must be proved beyond reasonable doubt that a product does contain an endangered species. In some products, particularly traditional medicines, endangered species may be mixed with other ingredients and heated at high temperatures. In such cases, current technology is unable to distinguish individual species or to prove conclu sively that any particular species is contained with the product.

The proposed amendment will allow a prosecution to be successful on the basis that a product is represented to contain material from an endangered species. If the packaging, markings or labelling of a product, or any accompanying documentation or other circumstances, represent that product as containing material from endangered species, it will be legally regarded as doing so. In this way, the amendment will overcome the forensic problems associated with conclusively proving the presence of a particular species in the product.

The amendment will act as an effective deterrent to the trade in traditional medicines that contain material from endangered species, and will encourage the use of alternative ingredients, many of which are already recognised by traditional medicine practitioners.

It is not the intention of the amendment to prohibit the general use of images of wildlife as a marketing tool, for example where a product obviously does not contain material from endangered species.

In making successful prosecutions possible, this amendment will play a vital part in protecting endangered species from poaching for use in the traditional medicine trade.

In conjunction with the implementation of this amendment, the Government will continue to work closely with groups of traditional medicine practitioners and consumers to highlight the plight of endangered species and to promote the use of alternative substances in traditional medicines.

The Government is providing leadership and support for the community in meeting our national and international obligations to preserve the world's endangered species. This amendment will contribute legislative force to the fight to protect them against extinction.

OZONE PROTECTION AMENDMENT BILL 1998

The Ozone Protection Amendment Bill 1998 will amend the Ozone Protection Act 1989 (the act). The act enables Australia to fulfil its international obligations as a Party to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (the Montreal Protocol), to eliminate its consumption of ozone depleting substances. The act controls the import, export and manufacture of a range of ozone depleting substances, known as `scheduled substances', by requiring licences for these activities, and by prohibiting the import and manufacture of certain products containing ozone depleting substances.

The act is a key element in Australia's approach to ozone protection. It is administered and enforced in conjunction with complementary State and Territory legislation and controls, and industry and non-government organisation activities, including voluntary Codes of Practice. This highly cooperative approach to environmental protection is detailed in the 1994 Revised Strategy for Ozone Protection and was endorsed by the Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council in 1995.

The innovative licensing and quota systems, first enacted in 1989, enabled Australia to achieve by 1995 a phase out of the ozone depleting substances CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), carbon tetrachloride, methyl chloroform and HBFCs (hydrobromofluorocarbons). The phase out has been total other than for a restricted range of essential uses. A total phase out of halons, except for essential uses, was reached in 1992, one year in advance of Montreal Protocol requirements. Australia's foresight in adopting such control measures was most recently borne out in the 1997 Montreal Amendment which now requires Parties to develop and implement a licensing system to regulate the import and export of ozone depleting substances.

These outstanding efforts were formally recognised in 1997 through the award of a Certificate of Appreciation to the Australian Government, by the United Nations Environment Program, in a ceremony which marked the 10th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol.

The Ozone Protection Amendment Bill 1998 represents the most recent step in Australia's response to the challenge of ozone depletion. It proposes amendments to improve the operation of the act's licensing and quota systems, and to allow more effective and targeted regulation of ozone depleting substances. The amendments reflect agreed solutions to issues encountered by industry, government and community stakeholders in progressing Australia's phase out of ozone depleting substances.

The decision to implement these solutions through legislation was taken through ongoing dialogue with industry and consultation with the Office of Regulation Review to make the initiatives business-effective. This is reflected in the conclusions of the Regulation Impact Statements.

As a Party to the Montreal Protocol and its Amendments, Australia must phase out consumption and production of HCFCs by 2020 and methyl bromide by 2005.

The act provides that the import, export or manufacture of either HCFCs or methyl bromide is prohibited unless otherwise authorised under a `controlled substances' licence. The bill clarifies that, in assessing an application for a `controlled substances' licence, separate consideration may be given to each activity in which an applicant seeks to engage.

Given the proximity of the scheduled phase out dates for HCFCs and methyl bromide, and that neither substance is currently manufactured in Australia, this proposed amendment will ensure manufacturing is not commenced in Australia by `controlled substances' licensees without due consideration.

Australia's HCFC industry activity triggered the quota system under the act for the first time in 1997. The act limits the total quantity of HCFCs that may be imported or manufactured by licensees to approximately half the `country cap' allocated by the Montreal Protocol, whereby the quota system is triggered.

The HCFC quota system will commence from 1 January 1999. From this date, HCFC `controlled substances' licensees must seek a quota allocation to engage in the regulated HCFC activity of importation or manufacture. The quotas will be allocated for a period of two years. After the first quota allocation, quotas will be based on the licensee's individual activity in the penultimate calendar year before the start of the following quota period.

The amendment enables the continued issuance of a "controlled substances licence" for a two year period, and further specifies as a condition of the licence the quantity of HCFCs a licensee may import or manufacture within any given year of a quota period. This will ensure Australia's HCFC controls remain equitable and efficient by avoiding possible distortion in the calculation of future quota allocations, for example if a disproportionate amount of a total quota allocation is imported in the first year of a quota period.

It is with the strong and active support of the fluorocarbon industry that this bill addresses this issue.

During the development of the bill, the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department identified an area of duplication in the act, arising from its historical development which reflects Australia's changing international obligations.

The ratification by Australia of the Montreal Amendment to the Montreal Protocol which the Parties adopted at their ninth meeting in 1997 to ban trade in methyl bromide with non-Protocol countries, means the substance is now more effectively covered by the existing provisions in subsections 18(2) and (3), rather than in sections 42 and 43, which are to be repealed by the bill. Subsections 18(2) and 18(3) provide that it is a condition of a licence granted under the act that scheduled substances, which include methyl bromide, are not to be imported to or exported from a non-Protocol country. Breach of the licence condition without reasonable excuse, is an offence with a maximum penalty of 500 penalty units currently $55,000. The bill also updates the Montreal Protocol text in the act with the addition of the most recent text following Schedule 3.

The last two amendments will fine-tune the administration of the act. One allows Ministerial delegation of the power to request further information in relation to a licence application. This will shorten the time for licence applications to be assessed and issued.

Another clarifies the scope of the exemption from the prohibition on manufacturing or importing CFC-dependent refrigeration and air conditioning equipment. The amendment specifies that the exemption only applies to the import of the CFC-dependent refrigerated transport containers, not their manufacture. While Australia does not manufacture CFC-dependent refrigerated transport containers, the global shipping industry still relies to some extent on the existing fleet of these containers and so Australia will continue to permit their movement in and out of Australian ports.

While Australia only contributes about 1 per cent to the total global consumption of ozone depleting substances, it represents a positive role model for the international community through its active participation in international ozone fora, bilateral activities with developing countries and domestic implementation of accelerated phase-out measures developed through a highly cooperative partnership with industry, the community and all levels of government.

This bill will ensure that Australia continues not only to meet its international obligations under the Montreal Protocol, but demonstrates its ongoing commitment to the recovery of the ozone layer through innovative and effective co-operation with industry.

Ordered that further consideration of the second reading of these bills be adjourned until the first sitting day in 1999, in accordance with standing order 111.

Ordered that these bills be listed on the Notice Paper as separate orders of the day.